Los Angeles, CA – With the new tax reform bill, millions of boomers getting ready to retire, and a tremendous retirement savings gap, Rebecca Walser’s book Wealth Unbroken: Growing Wealth Uninterrupted by Market Crashes, Taxes, and even Death (Atlantic), out in paperback earlier this month, is extremely timely.

The Kindle version of the book came out a few weeks ago and was #1 in the Kindle eBooks/Nonfiction category! It was also #1 in Personal Finance/Budgeting & Money Management, Personal Finance/Retirement Planning, Taxation/Personal, Business & Money/Business Life/Motivation & Self-Improvement, and Business & Money/Women & Business (see graphics below).

Walser will be hosting three talks in California in February where she will discuss the recent tax reform, the loss of some deductions for Californians, what the “IRA Tax Trap” is and how to leverage tax law changes for one’s benefit.

The talk will include info on: the ugly side of paying taxes in retirement; why large tax increases are coming even with the recent tax reform bill; and how to take back control of your wealth.

Rebecca Walser truly brings a wealth of understanding to the personal finance book space. Leveraging her background as a tax attorney, a Certified Financial Planner® and an experienced wealth strategist, Rebecca Walser is uniquely qualified to assess, structure and implement the best income maximization, wealth maximization, tax mitigation/minimization and optimal legacy strategies for her clients. Now, she has expanded the reach of her unique message through the release of her first book, Wealth Unbroken: Growing Wealth Uninterrupted by Market Crashes, Taxes, and even Death.

Rebecca earned her bachelor’s degree, summa cum laude, in finance, and her Juris Doctor degree, cum laude, from the University of Florida, and her advanced law degree in taxation from New York University. Prior to law, she worked in finance for years with PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP and the global networking division of IBM, acquired by AT&T.

She continues to practice law in the areas of federal taxation, wealth preservation, trusts and legacy planning, business succession and estate planning, and asset management and protection, while also serving her clients financial needs as a Certified Financial Planner®.

Rebecca spearheads a national practice with clients across the country and enjoys working with high income professionals, business owners, retirees and pre-retirees, and high net worth families, to implement advanced financial planning and wealth management strategies that maximize income and legacy distribution while minimizing taxes and managing risk. With over twenty years of financial and legal experience combined, Rebecca capitalizes on her distinctive skillset and years of knowledge to the best advantage of her clients.

Rebecca can be heard coast-to-coast on iHeart radio and seen on the nationally syndicated “Daytime” morning television show weekly, and she has also been featured in numerous media outlets nationwide including the Wall Street Journal, CNBC, US News & World Report, Fox Business, Bloomberg Business, New York Post, New York Daily News, Yahoo Finance, ABC News, NBC News, CBS News, FOX News, CW, Miami Herald, Boston Globe, LA Daily News, International Business Times, Investing Daily, and the Street Insider.

Noted Southern California poet Brian Michael Tracy will perform his ‘rock poetry’ album, The Mystical Prism of Being, at Hermosa Beach’s popular Live at the Lounge April 10 at 7:00pm. Tracy will be joined by noted musicians Bruce Springsteen collaborator Marty Rifkin, Andy Hill (Title Trackers, Hard Rain), and Renee Safier (Andy & Renee, Hard Rain), Dave Batti (John Stewart), and up and comer Edoardo Tancredi. Tickets for the event are $20 and are available here.

The 2015 DIY Convention: Do It Yourself in Film, Music & Books, produced by JM Northern Media, has themed the conference “For Mature Audiences Only.” No, they aren’t advising on how to create X rated content, but aiming the forum towards a more seasoned group of musicians, authors, and filmmakers who are transitioning away from corporate supported cultural creation models to a more DIY future. Honoring the best of independent content, the 2015 DIY Convention: Do It Yourself in Film, Music & Books, is pleased to announce the schedule for its 14th annual event.

“After 13 conferences we noticed that mature artists need somewhat different info than newer creators who have grown up in a more DIY era,” said conference managing director Bruce Haring. We are excited to focus on the challenges faced by over-30 content creators in the market.”… Read More

“UNSTOPPABLE thriller…I don’t believe I took a breath the entire time. As a thriller/political espionage aficionado, I rank PATRIOT in the pantheon of the BEST” – Mallory Anne-Marie Forbes, Mallory Heart Reviews

What would you do for your country? In Afghanistan, a US Army Patrol is devastated by an enemy with sophisticated weaponry, while in D.C., Pentagon staffer Scott Jenson tips off the ambitious young reporter Brooke Kinley about a billionaire businessman’s involvement in terrorism. But why is the White House determined to protect this businessman, and why does the answer seem to lie in the Canadian wilderness? In a dangerous journey to the remotest parts of the world and the darkest corners of men’s hearts, Brooke races to prevent a catastrophic attack on America, but can she uncover the real traitor?

Debuting at #13 on Amazon.co.uk for International Mystery & Crime, new bestseller Patriot is a pulse pounding, high octane adventure thriller with a heroine who is as happy running rapids as she is asking difficult questions at the Pentagon, its Homeland channeled through Bear Grylls.This debut novel by A.S. Bond will be appreciated by fans of Clive Cussler, Robert Ludlum and Tom Clancy.… Read More

The alternative comics scene’s iconic teenage outsider heroine Emily the Strange has formed a band, Emily and the Strangers, who will be releasing their first single and video downloads “Calling All Guitars” in time for Halloween, on October 29, 2013. The song and animation will be downloadable through iTunes, with a limited edition 7” 45rpm single with etched vinyl available at the Emily the Strange online store. The animated clip will also be viewable on Emily the Strange’s YouTube channel. The song and video were enabled by a very successful Kickstarter campaign that raised almost $65,000 from over 700 Emily the Strange fans.

Emily the Strange creator and Cosmic Debris founder Rob Reger notes, “It has been a lifelong dream and vision to make Emily and the Strangers into a real band and to share her empowering message of ‘Be Yourself, Think for Yourself, Do it Yourself’ through animation, music, and a voice that rocks!” Adding, “We couldn’t think of a better way to celebrate 20 years of our favorite 13 year old in 2013 than with her first music release.”… Read More

African girl carries water back to her village. A photo by Gil Garcetti in the Water is Key exhibition.

Wells Bring Hope a Los Angeles based nonprofit dedicated to saving lives with safe water in West Africa is proud to announce that their Vice President and inspiration for the founding of the organization, former Los Angeles County District Attorney and noted photographer Gil Garcetti will have his acclaimed photo exhibition “Water of Key” mounted in Paris, France; Geneva, Switzerland and Vienna, Austria in the coming months.

The exhibition features photographs by Gil Garcetti that reveal the dire need for safe water in West Africa and the hopes and successes experienced when people get safe water. His photos capture the stories of women and girls who are faced with the daily task of walking many miles to get water for their families. This exhibit first debuted in 2007 at the Fowler Museum at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA).

Known for his long career as a prosecutor and a Los Angeles District Attorney, Gil Garcetti has spent more than 40 years as an urban photographer. In 2001, he travelled to West Africa for the first of what would be a number of visits, drawn to the land and the people. It made him deeply committed to raising awareness of the need for safe water in the region. This exhibition showcases a selection of images from his book Water is Key.

The exhibition will run in Paris from June 4-11 at UNESCO, 4 avenue de saxe 75007 Paris; in Geneva from June 18 – July 3 at the United Nations Office at Geneva (UN) B. 32, Building B, Palais des Nations, 8-14 Avenue de la Paix, 1211 Geneva 10; and in Vienna from July 6 – July 20 at the Vienna International Center’s Rotunda Exhibition Space • United States Mission to International Organizations in Vienna, Wagramerstraße 17-19, 1220 Vienna.… Read More

Millions watch popular television shows like “The X-Files,” “Medium,” and “The Mentalist” and hit movies such as Close Encounters of the Third Kind, The Sixth Sense, and Phenomenon. Why do Americans continue to have such a keen interest in the paranormal?

Haunted Ground is out in time for Halloween!

Religious studies professor Darryl Caterine has written Haunted Ground: Journeys through a Paranormal America to answer these questions. Visiting Lily Dale, New York – a thriving Spiritualist community established well over a century ago; Roswell, New Mexico – home of the Roswell UFO Festival that attracts nearly 30,000 attendees annually; and Killington, Vermont for the American Society of Dowsers conference; Caterine leads a fascinating and insightful tour through present-day meetings of Spiritualists, ufologists, and dowsers that illuminates our obsession with the paranormal and challenges the misunderstanding of the paranormal as a marginal or inconsequential feature of America’s religious landscape.… Read More

“Rich in contemporary world history, Kill the Messenger is exactly the book the world needs to read in our perilous times.”
— Robert W. McChesney, coauthor of The Life and Death of American Journalism

July 25, 2011 – Los Angeles, CA – The Los Angeles Press Club and Los Angeles’ Pacifica radio station KPFK 90.7 FM present the official launch of public official, political scientist, radio host, and journalist Maria Armoudian’s upcoming book Kill the Messenger: The Media’s Role in the Fate of the World. The event occurs at 7:30pm August 11, 2011 at the Los Angeles Press Club, in the Steve Allen Theater at 4773 Hollywood Blvd, Los Angeles 90027, and features a discussion by the author followed by a Q&A.

With the book set for release on August 23, by noted independent publisher Prometheus Books, Kill the Messenger is a timely tome, particularly in light of recent revelations about the Rupert Murdoch News Corp empire.… Read More

Political scientist, noted radio host, and journalist, Maria Armoudian will be releasing her first book Kill the Messenger: The Media’s Role in the Fate of the World on August 23, 2011. Published by provocative, progressive and independent publisher, Prometheus Books, Kill the Messenger’s forward was written by author and political leader, Senator Tom Hayden.

The book emerged from Armoudian’s studies into the causes of genocide, war, peacemaking, democratization, and the protection of human rights and the environment, while she was working on her Ph.D. at the University of Southern California, as well as during her work as a broadcast journalist and public official. Looking across conflicts and policy successes and failures, she found that media (and media professionals) were among key factors in determining political outcomes, including matters of life and death.

Written in five parts, Kill the Messenger shows how media fomented rage and genocide in Rwanda, the Holocaust and the Bosnian war; how they helped bring peace in the Northern Ireland Conflict and the war in Burundi; how media contributed to democratization and the protection of human rights in South Africa, Taiwan, Mexico, and Senegal, and how they aided both the destruction and rebuilding of democracy in Chile. In its final case study, Kill the Messenger explores the media’s role in the fate of the world, as journalists disentangle the issue of climate change for the public.